It has been my privilege to spend time with David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash in a variety of settings over the past thirty years, and to interview them together and alone on many occasions. Our communications have sometimes extended to phone calls and emails. As a lifelong fan of their music, I will never forget the first time I sat at a table, looked around, and counted off: “Crosby . . . Stills . . . Nash . . . and me.” It was a surreal moment.
I have been fortunate enough to meet and interview many people who were vital to CSNY’s career, including their original drummer, the late Dallas Taylor; the man who signed them to Atlantic Records, the late Ahmet Ertegun; their close friend (closer to some than others) Joni Mitchell; and their archivist, photographer, musical collaborator, and friend, Joel Bernstein.
My conversations over many years with other musical comrades and friends were also invaluable in my research: from the Byrds, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman; from the Hollies, Allan Clarke, Bobby Elliott, Tony Hicks, the late Eric Haydock, Bernie Calvert, and Terry Sylvester; plus “Heavy Lenny” Bronstein, Jackson Browne, Denny Bruce, Judy Collins, Craig Doerge, Micky Dolenz, Art Garfunkel, David Gates, Alan Gerber, Richie Havens, the late Levon Helm, Judy Henske, Tom Jones, the late Paul Kantner, Phil Kaufman, Al Kooper, Michael Lang, Bernie Leadon, Country Joe McDonald, Barry Miles, Ralph Molina, Mark Naftalin, Michael Nesmith, Andrew Loog Oldham, Van Dyke Parks, Al Perkins, the late John Phillips, Terry Reid, the late Ron Richards, Rick Rubin, Tom Rush, the late Leon Russell, Bill Siddons, Billy Talbot, the late Derek Taylor, James Taylor, Jimmy Webb, Bob Weir, the late Paul Williams, Baron Wolman, and Bill Wyman.
Thanks also to those who provided additional insight or connections down the years: Bill Allison, Stuart Batsford, Tim Chacksfield, Chris Charlesworth, Barbara Charone, John Einarson, Stefano Frollano, Mike Heatley (EMI Records), Clinton Heylin, Paul Higham (and everyone else on the Lee Shore discussion group), Sarah Hodgson, Alan Jenkins, Michael Jensen, Kathy Lafferty at Kenneth Spencer Research Library, Dave Lemieux at dead.net, Pete Long, Francesco Lucarelli, Greil Marcus, Jim Marshall, Dennis McNally, Lee Ellen Newman, Tony Nourmand, Jeff Pevar, Sally Reeves, John Robertson, Johnny Rogan, Ellen Sander, Jeff Tamarkin, John Tobler, Kieron Tyler, Lucien van Diggelen, Herman Verbeke, Carey Wallace, Richard Wootton, and Dave Zimmer.
Thanks also to Andrew Sclanders (beatbooks.com) for opening his archive to me one more time; likewise to Clinton Heylin and Scott Curran; and to the staff of the British Library, the National Sound Archive, and Senate House Library in London.
Of all those mentioned, special thanks must go to Joel Bernstein for his generosity and patience in answering hours’ worth of queries about CSNY and their archives, and for his passionate regard for the musicians and their work. He was able to unpack many mysteries about the details of their career—but any mistakes I’ve made in interpreting those mysteries are entirely mine.
On a personal level, I’d like to thank Steve Dearne for first playing me CSNY’s music and infecting me with his own teenage passion for Stephen Stills’s work; and others with whom I’ve shared in-depth discussions about CSNY and their music down the years, whether they liked it or not: especially Debbie Cassell, Mike Grant, and Brian Hogg; plus, in memoriam, Sean Body. Apologies to those I’ve forgotten (or bored!). This section would not be complete unless I also acknowledged the many hundreds of hours I have spent since 1981 discussing the intricacies of CSNY’s history with Johnny Rogan, one of the few writers who was prepared to champion CSN’s work (and especially David Crosby’s) during the years when they were routinely dismissed and ridiculed by critics around the world.
Thanks to all of those who showed their enthusiasm for this project and helped guide it through to publication, especially my agents, Matthew Hamilton (Aitken Alexander) and Matthew Elblonk; my editors Jörg Hensgen and Stuart Williams at the Bodley Head, and Matthew Benjamin at Simon & Schuster; Sara Kitchen; Celeste Phillips; and Patricia Romanowski Bashe.
Finally, I would have been unable, physically or emotionally, to complete this book without the tireless and selfless love and support of my wife, Rachel Baylis. She has survived many more CSNY-related concerts and thousands more CSNY-related conversations than she could ever have imagined when we first met, but has somehow come through with her sanity intact (and with one of Stephen Stills’s guitar picks). Much love as ever to her, our wonderful daughters, Catrin and Becca, and to the irrepressible Freddie.